in the field of interior decorating cornice or window boxes are used to conceal curtain rods and pins and to provide decorative design and aesthetic appeal to a window. There are several types of cornice boxes currently available. Cornice boxes have traditionally been built from wood. Custom design cornice boxes built by a skilled craftsman, such as a carpenter, generally are expensive and very heavy. The expense of a custom design, all-wood cornice box precludes many people from employing this type of cornice box to decorate windows in their homes or offices.
Another type of wood cornice box can be constructed from a number of discrete laminate or plywood pieces that are pre-formed and provided as a kit. Such discrete pieces may be assembled by gluing or nailing them together to form a pre-designed cornice box. Such wood-kit cornice boxes are also expensive, heavy, may require special tools and assembly fixtures, and sometimes are difficult to assemble.
Lightweight, inexpensive cornice boxes made from Styrofoam or foam board have been offered as an alternative to wood cornice boxes. Styrofoam cornice boxes are less expensive and lighter than all-wood cornice boxes, but do not have sufficient rigidity and durability for use over extended periods of time.
Lightweight, inexpensive cornice boxes formed from cardboard have been offered as an alternative to all-wood and Styrofoam cornice boxes. Unfortunately, such cardboard cornice boxes of the prior art are difficult to assemble and require fastening hardware in order to hold the box together and to mount the box to a wall.
Lighting fixtures of the type known as “cornice” lighting fixtures are typically designed to be mounted above and spaced some finite distance out of a wall surface which it is desired to illuminate. The “cornice” lighting fixture is especially designed to provide uniform illumination or “wash” lighting to the wall being illuminated.
A conventional illumination, lamp generally outputs a single color of light, with a specified, brightness. More recently, there has been a growing tendency to use three lamps that output different wavelengths of light to provide a more natural light projector. However, it is extremely difficult to control the brightness of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) colors of recently developed three-wavelength lamps in accordance with their placement and the subjective tastes of users.
An illumination lamp can be employed which allows a user to perform brightness and color control in accordance with the state and purpose of use, the environment of use, or the tastes of the users. An illumination lamp may include a rectifier configured to rectify a current supplied by a power supply, a ballast portion configured to start the lamp using the power rectified in the rectifier, a lamp portion that is connected to the ballast portion, and that includes a plurality, preferably three, of tubes, each tube outputting a light of a different color temperature, and a controller that is connected to the ballast portion, configured to control a brightness and color of light produced by the illumination lamp.
A search of issued U.S. patents in the field of cornice boxes and related apparatus reveals U.S. patents related generally to the field of the present invention but which do not anticipate nor disclose the device of the present invention. The discovered U.S. patents relating generally to the present invention are discussed herein below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,006 to Walker entitled “Cornice Box” discloses a cornice box assembly for forming a cornice box of a desired shape that hangs on a wall over a window. The assembly includes a face member of a lightweight rigid material and first and second side members of the lightweight rigid material. Additionally, the assembly includes a top member of the lightweight rigid material. A back member is also provided of the lightweight rigid material having a first side tab member at a first end and a second side tab member at a second end. Each tab member may be placed in a position generally perpendicular to the back member at an interface between each tab member and the back member. The assembly also includes an adhesive for joining the members such that a hingeable joint is formed between any two adhesive joined members. The assembly also includes a fastening medium attached to each side member and a connection medium attached to each back side tab member. The fastening and connection mediums come together so as to hold the cornice box in a desired shape when the cornice box is formed along the hingeable joints with the side members and back member being generally perpendicular to the face member and the back member is generally parallel to the face member. A hanging medium attached to the back member's outside surface is also provided for securing the cornice box to the wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,877,545 B1 to Parkerson entitled “Foam Cornice Board” discloses a foam cornice board for hanging curtains to a foam body having a decorative front surface defining a flat central portion and decorative upper and lower portions. The central portion is configured is configured to receive a flat strip of decorative material such as a single vertical blind panel. The foam body further includes a notch formed into its back surface along the upper edge for receiving a mounting member connected thereto. For longer spans, a decorative foam keystone connector panel joins two adjacent cornice boards together which are abutted in end-to-end fashion. A decorative foam side cascade with a coextensive side panel is connectable to a wall, the side cascade having an upper margin configured for mating supportive engagement with a lower margin of the cornice board.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,958 to Harwood entitled “Cornice Lighting System” discloses a lighting fixture of the wall wash type and being parabolic in cross-section which has interchangeable reflector elements for directing the light in any desired direction with snap-in quickly interchangeable lighting fixtures to provide for the use of fluorescent lighting, tracking lighting, incandescent lighting or the like. The lighting fixtures are adaptable to be “ganged” together seriatim in any number needed to provide for the fixture to be of any desired length. Unique power transformer means can be provided to provide for electrically connecting the joined lighting fixtures.
None of the above listed U.S. patents disclose or suggest a reconfigurable cornice box assembly of the present invention. Each of the above listed U.S. patents (i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,006; U.S. Pat. No. 6,877,545 B1; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,958) are hereby incorporated herein by reference.